Love is Strange Review

An elderly gay couple (John Lithgow and Alfred Molina) who have been together for 40 years finally tie the knot in a charming little ceremony, surrounded by friends and family in New York. However, George is then fired from his job as a music teacher at a Christian school, despite the fact that everyone has been aware of his sexuality in the past. The loss of George’s income means that the couple are forced to move out of their apartment and must rely on the generosity of their nearest and dearest for a place to live. Ben bunks with his nephew Elliot, Elliot's wife Kate, and their teenage son Joey, while George stays on the sofa of their former neighbours, a younger same-sex couple of two party-loving cops, Roberto and Ted.

Love is Strange is so laidback, it feels as though it could fall right off the screen at times. This should be a furious film about the rights of same-sex couples; a film that rails against the treatment of George by his Catholic school. Instead it is a slice of life drama; one where the characters too easily accept their mistreatment and new predicament and all around them scramble to make their lives bearable. It is an intimate drama rather than a crusade against injustice and if that is what you want, then Love is Strange is a very well acted and touching tribute to love surviving against the odds.

To its credit, Love is Strange is an incredibly refreshing take on homosexual characters. There are none of the clichés that have become so familiar; for example, no one dies of AIDS, no one gets beaten up by homophobes or anything like that. In fact, the real hardships faced by the characters are simply those of being a burden on family and friends. They could happen to anyone, and the only thing that makes this different is that the Catholic school’s response to George getting married is the cause of all their problems. 

Writer/director Ira Sachs deliberately avoids melodrama and over sentimentality, but in doing so removes much of what could have been a more emotional and engaging story. Love is Strange feels like a step in the right direction but it should be angrier when life can still be this unfair.

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Son of a Gun Review

Young, naive JR is sent to prison for a lowly crime where he quickly becomes the target of some very dangerous men on the inside. Luckily, the fresh faced JR is also noticed by Brendan Lynch (Ewan MacGregor), a professional criminal who takes JR under his wing and protects him while on the inside. Brendan’s help comes at a cost though, and JR is soon embroiled with a daring prison escape. Once on the outside, JR becomes an apprentice to Brendan as they plan a major robbery but it soon becomes clear to JR that he may be just a pawn in a very dangerous world of high stakes criminality.

Forgetting one of the most ludicrous prison escapes you will ever see on screen, Son of a Gun is actually a generally grounded and gritty look at professional criminals in Australia’s underworld. The film is filled with shady characters with questionable motives and some seriously seedy crime bosses. JR is lucky he has the brains to keep up, and perhaps stay one step ahead, of these characters as it looks increasingly like behind their charm and banter, they are all willing to make JR a sacrificial lamb.

The father and son dynamic between JR and Brendan is more interesting than the romance that develops between JR and Alicia Vikander’s endangered damsel. It’s a shame Vikander does not get a fully rounded character to show off more than just her striking beauty but instead Ewan MacGregor seizes his role as an unpredictable psycho and relishes it. He is the ruthless spark at the centre of the story and provides the film with its most interesting and volatile character.

Son of a Gun is hampered by predictable plotting but it still manages some very tense set pieces. Starting off as a realistic prison drama, it soon emerges into the Aussie sunlight and develops into something a little more fanciful on its way to a wonderfully tense heist as the criminals go after a horde of gold. The double and triple crosses won’t be surprising to many, but decent performances and some thrilling action keep Son of a Gun from firing too many blanks.

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St Vincent Review

Curmudgeonly old codger Vincent has money problems, drinking problems and likes to make matters worse by spending what little money he has on sleeping with a pregnant Russian prostitute and gambling on the horses. Just as Vincent is at his lowest, the recently divorced Melissa McCarthy comes crashing into his life by moving in next door with her 12 year old son Oliver. When little Oliver is the target of bullies, he ends up losing his keys and having to ask Vincent for help. So starts a deal between Vincent and the boy’s mother where she will pay him to look after the boy while she works all hours to pay the rent.

Bill Murray is on fire as the grizzled old geezer at the beating heart of this story. Of course there is a heart beneath the gruff exterior. Of course the boy will help to thaw his heart.  Of course he’s not as mean as he first appears. While the old guy and his new young charge begin bonding over breaking bullies’ noses, the supporting cast also get their time in their spotlight. Naomi Watts is saddled with a dreadful accent and Terence Howard is completely wasted but Melissa McCarthy gets to deliver a wonderfully warm and touching performance as the straight one in her odd couple pairing with Murray, nimbly stepping out of the shadow of her recent comedic tour de forces. 

So while St. Vincent is filled with some fine performances, big laughs from Bill Murray and decent drama, it’s all as predictable as you can imagine. Chris O’Dowd fights earnestly in a handful of scenes for the title of funniest guy in the movie but this is definitely Murray’s vehicle. It’s a bright and sunny, heart warming film that never dwells too long on its brief moments of tragedy. Everyone in the film is inherently good, an overly optimistic take on life that occasionally rings false and sugar coats proceedings to the point where you may want to gag a bit by the end.

By the time, Oliver is trying to convince the world that Vincent is a modern day saint, the gags have all but dried up but St. Vincent has earned some of its its heart tugging emotion. Debut director Theodore Melfi has done well to gather such an accomplished cast who are capable of eliciting laughs and tears, even if the writing is frequently a little too obvious. St Vincent isn’t one of Bill Murray’s best films but without him, it would have been a hell of a lot worse. 

What did you think of St Vincent?

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Breaking Bad: The final countdown

Shell shocked is how I feel right now. I just watched Season 5 Episode 14 of Breaking Bad from between my fingers that were clasped for most of the episode over my eyes and clutching my head. If you aren't up to date with the show then I strongly suggest you stop reading this right now as here will be spoilers! We are now 2 episodes away from the finale and the latest episode titled Ozymandias is sure to go down in history as one of the best bits of TV ever written.

Taking its title from a sonnet (thanks Wikipedia) whose central theme is the 'inevitable decline of all leaders', this episode was an emotional roller coaster of the most terrifying kind. Starting with the blistering cliff hanger of the previous episode where all the central players ended up facing off against one another with far too many guns thrown into the mix, it wasn't long before a much beloved character was dead in the dust.

Walter White has descended over five series from family man and high school chemistry teacher to meth dealer, murderer, drug lord and utter, utter bastard. Creator Vince Gilligan has stated that he wanted to write a show where the protagonist gradually became the antagonist. Over the five series, Walt has become more and more morally questionable and despite staying true to his family man values (at least where his own immediate family is concerned) he has become a truly repugnant figure by the end of the fourth season (if not before).

The problem with Walt is that he is still in many ways the protagonist and everything he has done, it could be argued has been done for his family. OK so a lot was just to save his own ass too, but he has always had a strong desire to protect and provide for his wife and children. Most viewers will likely have been rooting for him throughout even as evil has frequently overcome him.

However Walt has become increasingly arrogant, ruthless, scheming and just damn hard to like. The turning point for me was when I realised he had poisoned the child at the end of series 4. Until then I had been rooting for him to come out on top against the sinister and terrifying Gus. As soon as Gus was defeated and there was no antagonist to Walt's 'protagonist', I realised just what I'd been rooting for and quickly shifted sides. Or wait was it earlier? Was it when Walt forced Jesse to murder Gale in order to save their skins? I'm not sure.

Series 5 for me has just been about hoping that Jesse gets as far away from Walt as possible and seeing that Walt is brought to justice. I have started to hate Walter White. I have started to root for Hank. I have started to feel much more sympathy for Jesse who I so often thought of in the past as stupid and a total liability.

But still, thanks to the incredible performance of Bryan Cranston there are these odd moments where I (and I'm sure most of us) find myself empathising with Walt again. In this last episode he failed to save Hank, dropped Jesse right in the shit and stole his own child from her mother. But when he pleads for Hank's life, breaks down in tears and appears to save Skyler I see that little sliver of good in him again. It is, as I said earlier, an emotional roller coaster. Never did I think the show could get much darker but seeing poor Flynn/Junior watching as his parents fought with a knife was seriously distressing TV. And then there is the fate of Jesse to think about.

With only two episodes to go, Breaking Bad is destined to get darker and to go down in history as one of the greatest dramas ever put on screen (cinema or TV). There is hope in how Walt left Holly at a fire house but I'm still not sure if he was saving Skyler through his final phone call or simply distancing her from what else he is about to do. As for Jesse I guess as long as he is alive there is still some hope. I'm still gutted Hank is gone and as much as Walt tried to help, he deserves to be punished for his part in this.

My question for Breaking Bad fans is when did you stop rooting for Walt or are you still hoping he's going to come out on top? Also if you fancy leaving a prediction, how do you think Breaking Bad is going to end?

One more thing... how f**king cool is this?

A Beginner’s Guide to World Cinema: Part One – Europe

European Humour, Scares and Violence

 Ever wondered what all the fuss was about with foreign cinema? Perhaps you want to check some foreign films out but you don’t know quite where to start? Should you go to Eastern Europe? France? Japan? Wonder no more as the Filmoria team take you on a guide through their picks of the best films foreign cinema has to offer.

Check out my contributions on [REC] and La Haine and other Filmoria writers' recommendations here.

Untouchable Review

 

Based on the book You Changed My Life by Abdel Sellou, Untouchable, originally titled Intouchables in France has already become a massive word-of-mouth box office sensation in its native land. The Weinstein Company have snapped up the rights for worldwide distribution and a US remake but they’ll be hard pushed to beat the magic of the original pairing of stars Omar Sy and Francois Cluzet in this touching dramedy...

Read the rest of this review over at Filmoria.

More on world cinema:

Check out my interview with the directors of Untouchable
Come As You Are review
Everybody Has a Plan review
A Hijacking trailer
Everybody Has a Plan trailer
Matthieu Kassovitz interview